1945-46 Caramelo Deportivo #55 Adolfo Luque. Graded a 2 by PSA. There have been a total of 12 examples of this card graded by PSA, with only one grading higher than this one. Adolfo Luque is one of the patriachs of Cuban baseball, along with his rival Miguel Gonzalez. In addition to his legendary pitching and managing in Cuba, he also had a stellar career in the Major Leagues, accumulating 194 wins and a 3.24 ERA, good for a 48.1 WAR. He won championships with the 1919 Reds who beat the Black Sox, and the 1933 New York giants. He also had one of the greatest pitching seasons of his era in 1923 when he won 27 games with a 1.93 ERA leading the league in both categories along with a league-leading 6 shutouts. Luque was a larger than life personality and is still one of the most popular figures in Cuban baseball history.

As with EVERY PSA card in this auction, if you would like to crack this one out and send it to SGC, I will pay for the grading fees if it doesn't get a bump in grade. This is not because SGC is more lenient than PSA. They are not. But they are more accurate. All you have to do is send me a scan of the card once it's out of the holder, so I can see it hasn't been damaged (it can be difficult to crack cards out safely) and then let me know what grade SGC gave it. If it's not higher than the PSA grade, grading fees are on me! Offer is good for 60 days after close of auction.